


A Bit(e) of Danger

by MarvelousMenagerie (HiddenOne)



Series: 2020 Tony Stark Bingo [9]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes Gets a Hug, Danger Kink, Dirty Talk, Fluff and Smut, From all of Tony's arms, M/M, Mermaid/Merboy AU, Octo Tony, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Shark Bucky, Tentacle Sex, Tentacles, and he likes it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:07:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23666632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenOne/pseuds/MarvelousMenagerie
Summary: Tony is an octo-mer. He’s supposed to be aloof and alone, with little interest in others - but really, he thinks it’d be nice to be able to use all these arms he has to hold someone.Bucky is a shark-mer which means he should also be content to be alone. He shouldn't want to be held, especially not by an octo-mer who could kill him, and he certainly shouldn't want someone to travel the migration with, and yet...Rhodey laughed, his tentacles waving through the water, gesturing Tony on. “That whirlpool of danger is all yours.”
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: 2020 Tony Stark Bingo [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1598911
Comments: 39
Kudos: 487
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo 2020





	A Bit(e) of Danger

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feignedsobriquet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feignedsobriquet/gifts).



> Tony Stark Bingo Square R3 - Tentacles  
> Card# 3036
> 
> [feignedsobriquet](https://feignedsobriquet.tumblr.com/) was kind enough to let me write a fic based on their gorgeous art which is embedded in the fic!   
> And thanks to FrenchKey to beta'ed the fic <3

There was a disturbance in the water. 

Tony twisted and saw the tremor pass from mer to mer and fish to fish, causing a ripple through the bar. That was the sum of it though - only a ripple of movement, a tremor of fear, and then everyone settled down back to their sponges and conversations, leaving only a heightened awareness behind. 

“I think it’s your new friend,” Rhodey said, stretching the word friend in his mouth like a joke. 

A seahorse mer darted out of Tony’s vision, and Rhodey was right - there was Bucky, slowly cruising through the bar with slow, lazy strokes that signaled a content predator who _wasn’t_ searching for its next meal. 

“And here I was thinking you hated sharing the spotlight.” Rhodey took a pull from his sponge, a new fermentation that the bartender Fury had just come out with, his eyes dancing. 

“Oh clam of my heart - you’re the one who taught me how to share,” Tony said, his eyelashes fluttering. 

Not that Rhodey didn’t have a point. Tony attracted attention wherever he went, with his eight bright red arms and shiny gold spots. He’d had complete control over his octo-colors since he was four, but the red and gold color scheme was his favorite. 

Rhodey, on the other hand or seven, kept his octo-arms shifting between black and grey to better blend into the background. It made finding Rhodey so that Tony could hang out with him difficult, but eventually Tony always managed to track him down for a couple of drinks at Fury’s undersea bar. 

Two octo-mers, even with one of them as flashy as Tony, though didn’t attract the same attention as a shark-mer. 

“Did you want to share a piece?” Tony asked, only half-joking.

Rhodey laughed, his tentacles waving through the water, gesturing Tony on. “That whirlpool of danger is all yours.”

“Your loss,” Tony said. 

He didn’t feel an ounce of guilt over abandoning Rhodey to swim for Bucky. Rhodey had been eyeing the man o’ war mer in the corner anyway - and Rhodey wanted to lecture _Tony_ about danger! 

“And make sure to use protection!” Rhodey called out after him. 

“Go get your ass stung like you deserve!”

Tony attracted attention as he swam through the crowd, his colors gleaming in the patches of sunlight that filtered down this far. A few fish scuttled out of his way, but otherwise most of Tony’s looks were admiring. 

Including Bucky’s, who watched him approach with a predator’s gleam. 

“Hey there,” Tony greeted with a smile. “What brings a fish like you into a bar like this?”

“Might’a been hoping to find a certain someone,” Bucky drawled. 

Bucky’s shoulder length hair was starting to escape from his seaweed tie, and Tony’s fingers itched to comb it back for him. 

The desire distracted him so much that Tony almost blushed when he realized that Bucky had come looking for him. And Bucky had just - straight up said it. Blunt, like Tony would expect from a shark, but also sweet. 

This was why Tony didn’t make a good octo-mer. They were supposed to be aloof, independent, and not all that interested in socializing. Rhodey liked him, hung out with him even if Rhodey was also content alone like a proper octo-mer, and Tony even managed to befriend Pepper, a seahorse mer but - 

But Tony thought he was born with all these arms and nothing to cling to, and maybe, just maybe, a shark-mer like Bucky would understand. Someone whose species meant they were also supposed to be content to be alone, but weren’t. 

Unless Tony was getting ahead of himself.

“Anyone in particular? Got a lot of fish in the sea, you know.” Tony teased, telling his tentacles not to reach out for Bucky as he drifted toward him. 

“Good thing he managed to find me then.” Bucky grinned, showing off an array of sharp teeth. “Can I, uh, get you something?” Bucky gestured to the bar, where Fury was pretending not to watch them with the one eye he had left. 

Not that the killer whale-mer had any issues with keeping anyone in line, even a shark. 

Tony had tangled with Fury on more than one occasion, but most recently because Fury hadn’t wanted to give Tony the secret route to the top-side bar that Fury had a crab-mer, Coulson, run for him. Fury had claimed to want to keep out the riff-raff, and Tony said Fury was running a bad business to turn away customers. 

Tony now knew the route to the bar on the surface, thanks to Rhodey who always managed to find out the fun secrets because he seemed more trustworthy. This put Tony ahead in his ongoing battle with Fury, and Tony could be a graceful winner. 

Fury would never turn away a shark as a customer, even if it made the rest nervous. But Tony felt the stares and the occasional tremors as they vibrated through the waves, and while Tony didn’t mind the spotlight he knew Bucky did. 

“You know, I think I want to get out of here. Got somewhere I want to show you,” Tony said softly. He let himself twine around Bucky for a moment, then pulled back. 

Bucky’s gaze followed him, dark and watchful, and it sent zings up Tony’s spine. 

Yeah, okay, Tony liked the danger. Especially when the danger came in as pretty a package as Bucky. The scars on Bucky’s left shoulder - from teeth that Tony cringed just thinking about - only added to Bucky’s rugged charm. The long hair, wide shoulders, and a sweet smile that was more accurate than the sharp teeth that was behind it, and all of Tony’s suckers just wanted to get a taste of Bucky’s skin. 

Well, soon. Hopefully. 

“Let me grab a few drinks and I’ll meet you outside? It’s not far,” Tony assured. Fury’s bar had top-notch quality stuff, but the sponges would leak out their fermented contents into the surrounding waves no matter what. 

It’s why there were so many non-mer fish traveling through and floating in the corners. Drinking by association, even if there was a higher-risk that a mer would reach over for a quick snack break. 

“Sure,” Bucky said, as easy as that. He spun around and headed out, pace loose and easy. 

There was still a ripple of tension that went through the bar. That instinctual shiver of danger, despite Bucky’s lazy swimming meant to put everyone at ease.

Fury had the sponges ready and waiting for Tony at the bar, always seeing and knowing too much. 

“Send a round of drinks to my buddy and his friend over there, will you?” Tony said, nodding to the corner where Rhodey was still chatting up the man o’ war-mer. “You know her, by chance? Haven’t seen her around before. I’d remember a mohawk like that.”

“I’ll let you know when that’s any of your business,” Fury said, crossing his arms. “Why don’t you go dangle some of those limbs in front your shark friend and see how many you can keep?”

“Aw, Nicky, you do care,” Tony teased, scooping up the sponges and then swimming away. 

Tony found Bucky tucked away. He hid back under the rock well for how big the shark-mer was. 

“This way,” Tony directed, swimming around one of the corners. “Like I said, it’s not far.”

Bucky followed him, long swipes of his tail meaning he stayed close behind Tony. 

Not close enough to crowd, not far enough away to stalk, but somewhere in between that sent shivers racing up Tony’s tentacles because he had a predator at his back. He should maybe be more nervous than he was. 

“Sorry if I interrupted,” Bucky said. 

“Nah, you’re fine. I drag Rhodey out because it’s good for him, and he likes it even if he doesn’t say. He’s perfectly happy chatting up that pretty mer back there, and he hates it when I play his fin-man.” Tony twirled, still swimming in his original direction but facing back toward Bucky. Tony winked. “Apparently I tend to embarrass him.”

“He didn’t want to return the favor?” Bucky said, his voice a low grumble. 

“You chatting me up, pretty boy?” 

Bucky blinked and stopped hovering in the water. “Yes. That’s - you knew that, right? That’s what we’re doing?”

Tony turned around and swam back toward Bucky, his three hearts melting. His big bad shark was still tentative, and Tony loved it even as he wanted Bucky to strut through the waters. 

“Yes, starfish, no worries.” 

Tony had been intrigued by Bucky since they’d accidentally gone for the same kill. Tony had won the fish fight, though he suspected Bucky let him, and in the end they’d shared the meal. Tony had poked and prodded until the shark-mer had opened up, and Tony had realized this mer, apex predator he was, was kind and funny and sweet. Dangerous, even to other mers, but considerate. 

Hence Bucky doing the slow, content swim in the bar in an attempt to keep everyone calm. 

But Tony couldn’t resist the tease, even as he let some of his arms drift down Bucky’s chest. 

“I don’t think you’re luring me out to a quiet part of the ocean to eat me. Unless - was that your plan?”

Bucky ran gentle hands over the ends of Tony’s tentacles where they touched him. “Think I’m more in danger of you, actually.” 

“There you go. Right on target with that one.” Tony wrapped his tentacles around Bucky’s wrists and used his grip to pull himself further into Bucky. “Here, have a sponge, and relax a little.” Tony fed Bucky one of the smaller sponges, fingers right up and personal with that mouthful of teeth. “I’m the one who lured you out where I could get you all to myself.”

Bucky sucked on the sponge, his gaze heavy on Tony’s face. “Talk like that could go to a mer’s head, you know.”

“Hopefully the right one,” Tony added on with a wink. 

Bucky didn’t blush, but he did do a delightful squirm that Tony enjoyed. 

“Such a flirt.”

“Who’s chatting up who now?” Tony popped a sponge into his own mouth, letting the taste burn the back of his throat. “Come on, Bubbles. Just a little bit farther.”

Bucky’s eyes were dark and predatory as he followed Tony through the currents, his spine curving back and forth in slow, easy strokes.

Tony watched and enjoyed as he swam backwards, still facing Bucky. 

“Here we go,” Tony said as he dived down and around a rock. “The route to Fury’s bar on the surface is just that way.” Tony directed with one of his tentacles. “But don’t tell him I told you.”

“The surface isn’t my thing,” Bucky said with a shrug.

“Just in case you’re looking for someone.” Tony winked and handed Bucky a sponge.

They were tucked away down here, out of sight, and would have advance warning if anyone swam near. Not that much would bother an octo- _and_ shark-mer. 

Bucky fiddled with his sponge instead of drinking it. “About that…”

Tony hesitated. “Yeah?”

“You might not see me around for a while. It’s, well, it’s time to migrate. I’m plannin’ on heading south, catchin’ the current real soon.”

Tony blinked. His hearts twisted as if they were tentacles, and he didn’t know what that meant. 

“Oh.”

“Would you -” Bucky’s teeth sank into his bottom lip. “Do you want to come with me?”

Tony’s jaw dropped. 

Bucky grimaced. “Unless it’s too weird. And why would you want to leave? Never mind. I mean, I can catch you next season when I’m back? If you want though. Like you said, there’s plenty of fish in the sea, so no hard feelings.” Bucky took a drink from the sponge. “Just - wanted you to know that I’m not a ghost fish.”

Bucky couldn’t swim backwards, but he did a sharp turn and made as if to swim away. 

Tony reached out and wrapped his tentacles around Bucky and dragged the shark back to him. 

“Wait a second,” Tony soothed. He didn’t understand why his brain, which usually worked so fast, was still stuck on Bucky’s offer. “You can’t just ask something like that and then swim away.”

Bucky’s face was flushed a beautiful red and Tony squeezed Bucky with his tentacles in comfort.

“You flashed colors for a second there. Didn’t think that was a good sign.”

“I did?” Tony looked down at himself, but he was back to his usual red and gold. “Oh, you just - surprised me.”

“In a bad way.”

“In a _surprise_ way,” Tony corrected, yanking Bucky closer with his tentacles. 

Tony tried to think, but now part of the problem is that he’d finally gotten his tentacles wrapped around this pretty shark-mer and that was making it difficult to focus. The sensation of Bucky’s smooth skin slid up his tentacles and into his brain which was storing away the knowledge of all that muscle and lethal power right underneath Tony’s suckers. 

And Tony couldn’t stop squeezing, couldn’t stop feeling. Bucky wiggled in Tony’s hold, but the movements weren’t hard enough to try to get away so Tony didn’t release his grip. 

“You have to give me a moment to think about it if you want me to just leave my home and come on an adventure with you,” Tony chastised.

And it would be an adventure, wouldn’t it? Tony hadn’t had one of those since - well, not for a long time. Tony liked this corner of the ocean, with his couple of friends, and venturing out into the great blue beyond had lost its luster when he realized that he’d just be swimming alone. 

He used to like exploring, meeting new people and seeing new reefs. 

And if he went with Bucky, he wouldn’t be alone. 

“Right, yeah, you’d be uprooting your entire life. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“You shouldn’t have?” Tony pressed, wrapping another tentacle around Bucky’s shoulders. “And here I was, feeling special you did.”

Bucky’s face was so close, and Tony watched the flush darken on Bucky’s face. Then Bucky smiled, showing off those pointed teeth, as hope washed across his face.

“Yeah? If you want, I mean, I’d love for you to come with me.”

“Is this the shark-mer version of going steady? Going on a migration together?” Tony asked. “You haven’t even kissed me, you know.”

“You haven’t kissed me either, so think we’re even on that.” Bucky grinned, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “And, well, if you’re only coming just to check out all those other fish in the sea, I’ll be mighty disappointed.”

“Wouldn’t want that,” Tony teased.

Bucky’s gaze went serious. “But I’ll be back after the season, so it’s okay if you want -”

Tony kissed Bucky, his lips soft on Bucky’s at first until Bucky stopped talking. Bucky surged forward, kissing Tony back and wrapping his hands around Tony’s waist. Tony twined them together thoroughly, making sure to avoid Bucky’s gills as Tony’s tentacles explored Bucky’s body, caressing around fins and tickling Bucky’s tail. 

Bucky shivered in Tony’s grasp. Tony wondered if Bucky felt it too, the danger of being so close to a predator’s grip. Like this, Tony could strangle Bucky to death. Like this, Bucky could rip open Tony’s throat. Yet they kissed, Tony running his fingers through Bucky’s hair so it streamed completely free. 

“I knew you’d be addictin’,” Bucky whispered as he moved from Tony’s mouth to sucking a line down Tony’s jaw. 

“You might get sick of me,” Tony warned, his tentacles suckling at Bucky’s skin to taste. 

Bucky hummed against Tony’s throat, brushing his teeth against the skin there, and Tony shivered from his head to the tips of his eight tentacles. 

“I’m willin’ to test that,” Bucky murmured as he moved down to Tony’s shoulder. “But pearl, you don’t know how good you taste. Not sure I’ll get tired of it.” Bucky groaned, his nails digging into Tony’s hips. “Can I try a bite? Just a nibble, I promise.”

Tony knew his colors were shifting, changing to a deep dark red that matched the heat that Bucky was sparking along all his limbs. 

“Best not.” Tony squirmed, trying to get himself under control. “I don’t - I’m not sure I can control myself right now, with the - the venom. I might bite back.”

Bucky came back up to Tony’s mouth, giving him a deep, thorough kiss with just a hint of those teeth. 

“Getting a little riled up, pearl?” 

“Enough that I don’t want to kill you.” Tony panted for air, his lungs working to get oxygen from the water. Somehow Bucky seemed to be stealing it all. 

“That’s good news, I think.” Bucky smiled, his grin delighted and sweet even as he rocked in Tony’s hold, brushing their bodies together. 

“What better be good news is your plan for these.” Tony slipped one tentacle down Bucky’s stomach, feeling the shift between human skin and shark, then further and further until the tip of Tony’s tentacle ran into the heads of Bucky’s cocks. 

Tony circled them, teased them, and Bucky moaned and thrust in Tony’s grip as Bucky’s two cocks descended from the secret slit low on Bucky’s stomach. Each cock was long and thin, but the two of them together would be deliciously thick, splitting Tony apart. Or so Tony thought, as he used his tentacle to map the measurements. 

“I know what I’d like to do.” Bucky’s voice was rough and low. “I’d like to stuff you full and feel how well you take it.”

Tony laughed, ducking close to kiss Bucky again but his own smile ruined it. “I knew you weren’t just this big, shy shark. Look at that dirty talk.”

Bucky blushed. “Oh, well -”

“No, no, no, I like it. And I really like your plan. Just watch the teeth, because I’m hoping you fuck me hard enough that I forget about everything else.”

“I can do that.”

In a breath, Bucky spun Tony around. Tony’s tentacles shifted, loosening their grip so that Bucky could press against Tony’s back. 

“You going to open yourself up for me, pearl?” Bucky whispered in Tony’s ear. “Spread your tentacles and let me inside?”

Tony kept himself from flashing an embarrassing array of bright, excited colors as he did as Bucky asked. He spread himself open, his tentacles folding back and away so that Bucky could reach his hole. 

Bucky reached down with his hand first, his fingers slipping around tentacles until he was teasing at the entrance to Tony’s hole. 

“Come on, Bucky.” Tony groaned, shivering at the tentative touch and light scraping of Bucky’s nails. 

“Yeah, I got you.” Bucky’s hand left to slide up the skin of Tony’s hip, teasing at the sensitive line where octopus transitioned to human skin. Bucky squirmed closer, gripping Tony tight as he positioned himself. 

“Don’t bite,” Tony reminded lightly as he rolled back against Bucky. 

Bucky’s teeth were close to Tony’s shoulder again, hovering. Tony knew that sharks tended to bite their mates to hold them in place, and mers might have the same urge - but with Tony’s tentacles wrapped around Bucky, neither of them were going anywhere. 

Still, Tony was curious about the bite. A nibble, Bucky had said. Because Bucky thought Tony would taste delicious and - Tony was curious. 

“I won’t,” Bucky promised with sincerity. Then with another thrust, both of Bucky’s cocks were probing at Tony’s entrance.

“Yup, there, you found it. Nice work. Now go inside,” Tony coached. 

“Brat,” Bucky breathed against Tony’s ear. “Can the sass be fucked out of you?”

“You should definitely try it.” 

Bucky laughed, the warm water from his exhale rushing by Tony’s ear. Then he thrust in, and Tony lost track of everything except how Bucky was breaking Tony open, an inch at time. 

“Fuck, you’re gorgeous,” Bucky panted. 

Tony blinked and saw that bright blue spots were racing up his tentacles, as if his colors needed to direct Bucky where to fuck him. Tony felt his face heat, and he scrambled for cover.

Bucky groaned as Tony wiggled, but they stayed connected as Bucky’s cock stretched and filled Tony’s hole. Bucky pressed right up against Tony, buried as deep as he could go, and Tony shivered from the top of his spine down all the way through the tips of his tentacles. 

“Take a breath,” Bucky warned.

Tony did as Bucky asked, clutching at a rock to ground himself. 

Bucky’s cocks seemed to balloon inside him, filling and thickening, stretching Tony open wide. 

Tony groaned and ducked his head. He was flashing bright blue now in pleasure, and he flushed. Maybe, if he buried himself in that tiny crevice between his rock and the one next, he wouldn’t have to see his own light show as Bucky fucked him. 

They’d barely even gotten started and Tony was already breathless. 

“You okay?” Bucky twitched, but otherwise held still. His hands pet Tony’s sides. “You - you need me to pull out?”

“No, no - fuck no,” Tony assured. “I think I might just need to hold onto something.”

Bucky ran a hand down Tony’s arm, soothing. “How about you hold onto me?”

Tony’s tentacles had flailed out, and now Tony slid his tentacles back around Bucky’s body. Once again he was holding and caressing all that dangerous muscle. 

“Just like that, pearl. Just like that.” 

There was a breathless pitch to Bucky’s tone, and Tony bit his lip and went for it. He squeezed.

Bucky moaned, hips pitching forward except he was already buried deep. He humped Tony, fast and quick, as Tony held Bucky tight. 

“There you go. Hold onto me, yeah?” Bucky grabbed Tony’s wrists and held them together in one hand. 

Tony lost his hold on his rock. With his tentacles wrapped around Bucky, neither of them had the ability to navigate. Bucky used his left hand to push them clear of the rocks, and then they were floating. 

Bucky started a slow, deep rhythm that punched the air out of Tony’s lungs. Tony shook with each thrust, working himself back as Bucky fucked forward. His hands were still trapped in Bucky’s grip, and Bucky’s other hand raked down Tony’s chest to end low on Tony’s waist. 

“How’s this?” Bucky whispered in his ear. 

Anyone around them could see as they floated clear of the floor. Anyone could see the two of them tangled together, either fighting or fucking - and Tony’s bright, happy colors would give away which one. 

Tony didn’t think he cared, as long as no one interrupted. He was twisting in the water, holding onto nothing but Bucky. 

“Good but more.” Tony used his tentacles to force Bucky into him. “Harder.”

Bucky grunted and picked up the pace, Tony using his own grip to make Bucky drill into him. Bucky’s two cocks slid inside him, stretching Tony wide. Tony squeezed down, needing to make it good and tight for Bucky, needing to feel like Bucky was splitting him open. 

Pleasure zinged down Tony’s nerves, down to the very tips of his tentacles. Tony pulled at Bucky, holding him tight and clinging, wishing he could turn around and wrap his arms around Bucky and squeeze tight. 

Bucky didn’t complain at the embrace. Bucky only fucked Tony harder, fucked Tony faster when he asked. Bucky’s teeth flashed out of the corner of Tony’s eye, but Bucky didn’t bite. 

“That’s it. Fuck you feel good, so good,” Tony praised, though it wasn’t like Bucky needed coaching. 

“Look at those pretty colors of yours,” Bucky panted.

Tony cracked his eyes open to see that Bucky was right. Tony was flashing more than bright blue now - gold and pink and white and purple. The closer Tony got to coming, the smaller the dots and the faster they moved. 

Tony arched back into Bucky, bringing his hands into his chest so Bucky had his arm wrapped around Tony’s shoulder. 

“You close?” Tony asked, breaking off into a moan as Bucky thrust back in. 

Tony wondered if Bucky could feel it, all the water that Bucky was fucking in and out of Tony’s hole along with those cocks. Bucky would thrust in, forcing water up further into Tony, up so far that Tony could feel it in his throat. Then Bucky could pull back, taking the water with him, and it would flow out and around Bucky’s cocks, stretching Tony’s rim even wider. Tony hoped the caress of the rushing water lit up Bucky like it was doing to him. 

“Close,” Bucky agreed. “You need - can I -”

“Keep, keep doing that. You’re so good, just keep -” Tony tried to reply. He pressed back, he squeezed, he pulled Bucky forward, and he came. 

He felt the wave of pleasure crash over him, and the tips of his tentacles curled into spirals. His eyes were closed, but he saw his bright, colorful spots behind his eyelids, as if they were the stars that lit up the night sky. 

He sagged in Bucky’s grip, even as Bucky ground into him, working and thrusting until he was shaking apart, pressed up against Tony’s back. A rush of fluid added to the water that Bucky had fucked up into him, and Tony had never been this full. 

Bucky’s cocks slimmed down and slipped out, and Tony whined as water and Bucky’s come started to spill out of him. 

“Fuck that was good.” Bucky sounded dazed. 

Tony hummed in agreement.

His grip on Bucky was slack now, his tentacles twitching and writhing from the aftershocks. Bucky slipped away, out of Tony’s grip. 

Tony twisted, biting back his plea for Bucky to _stay_ , please, please just stay - and ended up biting back a laugh. 

Bucky looked dazed too, his eyes glazed and limbs useless. Also, Bucky had flipped completely upside down and just drifted with the current.

“Good, huh?” Tony pressed, telling himself he didn’t need to reach out to Bucky. Bucky was fine, and needed space to float. 

“So good.” Bucky’s smile was dopey. “You mind grabbin’ a’ hold again? I’m gonna float away otherwise. Dumb and useless after sex, the lot of us.”

“Good thing you’ve got me,” Tony murmured and gently wrapped his tentacles around Bucky and reeled the shark-mer back in. 

“Good thing.” Bucky sighed in Tony’s grip. “‘S nice, too.”

“Yeah, it is,” Tony agreed as he surrounded Bucky. 

It was nice, being able to relax and cling. To have someone who wanted Tony to hold them. Other octo-mers usually had a fight response post-sex, and some other species that Tony had tangled with didn’t like the feeling of being trapped. 

Bucky continued his upside down lolling in Tony’s grip, and Tony used a tentacle to prop Bucky’s head up so it didn’t droop. 

And, bonus, now Bucky could smile that loose, relaxed grin at Tony. 

“Thanks.” Bucky slurred the word. 

“Are you always like this after sex?” 

“Mmhm.” Bucky exerted the effort to lift one of his arms, letting his hand flop onto Tony’s waist. “‘S why can’t have it too often. Vulnerable. Risky.” Bucky’s nails lightly scratched at Tony’s octopus skin, and Tony shivered. “You always that loud?” 

“That’s sad. You should have all the mers begging for that kind of ride.” Tony was almost offended on Bucky’s behalf. Who wouldn’t want to stick around and protect a big, cuddly shark-mer after that kind of fucking? 

Bucky shrugged. “Don’t want ‘em. Just…” Bucky flushed. 

“Me? You’re sweet, Bubbles.” Tony smiled and gave Bucky a nice, lingering kiss. “As for how loud I am -” Tony’s voice hadn’t gotten loud, but all the bright, flashing colors had to have garnered attention. It seemed that anyone who saw that had chosen to flee, or at least there was no one around anymore. 

Tony’s colors had screamed what his voice had not. 

“I think you’re going to need to find that out for yourself,” Tony teased.

Bucky bumped noses with Tony, humming. “I like the sound of that.” 

Tony waited, tickling lines down Bucky’s skin with the tips of his fingers and his tentacles. He waited for Bucky to get what Tony was saying. 

Bucky continued humming some song, both hands now drawing patterns on Tony’s hips. 

“Bucky.” Tony wasn’t one for patience. “I’m not going to wait until after migration for you to test that.”

Bucky’s lips twisted as he thought. “I’ll need a bit to go again. That was - damn, that was a lot. So good.” Bucky grinned. 

Absolutely dumb, Tony thought fondly as he ran a hand through Bucky’s hair, brushing it back. He twisted them over, letting Bucky be right-side up again and hopefully get blood back in Bucky’s brain. 

Bucky sighed at the switch, his muscles twitching and tail snapping, but he didn’t try to wiggle out of Tony’s grip. He snorted and rubbed his head. 

“Wait.” Bucky frowned. “That - about migration, does that mean?” 

“If you still want me along,” Tony said, the words coming out shyer than he meant them. 

Bucky wrapped his arms around Tony and clung, just as tight as Tony was squeezing Bucky. 

“Yeah, of course I do. Was goin’ to break my heart, letting you go after that. Told you, you’re addictin’.”

“Not sure that’s a good thing.”

Bucky laughed, loud and carefree, and Tony felt his hearts flip at the sound. 

He could get used to that. 

“It’s a - look, it’s a shark thing. You’ve got this scent, this taste. Pulls me in. You don’t have that?” Bucky bit his lip, looking uncertain. 

Tony thought about that for a moment. Is that how Bucky found him before? Sharks had keen senses - just how far could Bucky track him, if Bucky wanted to? 

“No, we don’t have that,” Tony answered as his mind turned over this new information. 

Bucky was sweet. Tony had just agreed to go on an adventure with him. It would be useful, if Tony got lost, for Bucky to always be able to find him - but what if Tony wanted to leave? 

Except - octo-mers didn’t have a scent that indicated compatibility. Octo-mers had three hearts, and right now all three of Tony’s hearts beat in time to tell him the same thing. 

Mine, mine, mine. 

If Tony wanted to leave, he’d figure out a way. He was clever, and had eight additional arms to help him escape. If he wanted to. 

But Tony didn’t think he’d want to. Tony was never the first to leave, really, always the one pulling his tentacles back as someone else swam away. Except for Bucky, who still lay content in Tony’s hold. Who still let Tony cling. 

Tony wrapped his tentacles more firmly around Bucky. 

“A shark thing, hm?” Tony snuggled close. “So, two thick cocks and attracted to my scent. What other secrets are you hiding?”

Bucky blinked in surprise, and Tony got to watch a brilliant smile crest on Bucky’s face. 

“Got a few more. Save ‘em for the migration, I think, so I have somethin’ to tempt you with.”

“No, none of that. Tell me now.” Tony snuggled closer. 

Bucky leaned in and kissed Tony, soft and sweet. “Guess I’ll need to try again to see if that sass can get fucked out of you, huh?”

Tony laughed. “Please do.”

“Kinda hoping it can’t,” Bucky confessed, and then kissed Tony again. 


End file.
